The World's Largest Panettone Was Just Made in Italy

Christmas in Italy isn't complete without panettone—a traditional Milanese sweet bread filled with candied fruit peel and raisins. Whether you take it with a cup of coffee Christmas morning or squeeze some in after an indulgent holiday meal, the citrusy dish has been an international staple since around the mid-twentieth century. However, on Sunday, Milan took its love for the sweet bread to a whole new level: Enter the world's largest panettone, weighing in at a hefty 308 pounds and towering over six feet tall.

The Local reports the panettone was crafted by San Gregorio patisserie, who divvied it up into 1,200 slices and distributed it for free at the Victor Emmanuel II shopping gallery—happy holidays, indeed. Making a standard-issue panettone is no easy feat to begin with: From start to finish, the entire baking process clocks in at 32 hours, according to Bon Appétit. And that doesn't include the weeklong cultivation of live yeast, which essentially separates panettone from "bad fruitcake—­dense, sickeningly sweet, and not a pretty sight." To make the world's largest panettone, bakers at San Gregorio had to use a special oven—over two feet high—and bake the bread much more slowly in order to ensure it cooked through.

"It's as good as the traditional one, but it's a bit different,"Angelo Bernasconi, owner of the San Gregorio patisserie, told AFP. "It's a little dry, otherwise it would collapse."

The bakery is used to mass-producing panettone: 200 of the candied breads are shipped to New York each week. And Bernasconi and his partner, Savino Moretti, have been making the dish for over 50 years, using a recipe they inherited from the shop's previous owner. The secret ingredient?
According to legend, horse urineused to be added into the flour for extra acidity. Thankfully, the modern version of the recipe—and the free panettone distributed Sunday—sticks to less horsey ingredients.